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Review: Miracle on 133rd Street

Title: Miracle on 133rd Street

Author: Sonia
Manzano

Illustrator: Marjorie
Priceman

Publisher: Atheneum
Books for Young Readers

Year: 2015

Hardcover: 48 pages

Ages: 4 – 8

Summary

Miracle on 133rd
Street is
the story of a Puerto Rican family living in the diaspora and how they spend Christmas.
The family is getting ready to celebrate, but Mami is nostalgic for Christmas
in Puerto Rico. Their oven is too small for the roast. She remembers how the
roast is done outside in Puerto Rico. The little boy, José, notes how his
mother gets homesick every Christmas.

Papi,
named José too, decides is better to use the oven at Regular Ray's Pizzeria. As
Papi and José go down the stairs, they encounter several neighbors. None of
them are happy that it is Christmas Eve. Mrs. Whitman's kids are driving her
crazy. Mr. and Mrs. Santiago's children are not visiting this year. Mr.
Franklin thinks the muggers are out. The Wozenskys worry about spending money
on Christmas.

Mr.
Ray lets them use his oven. The roast takes three hours. José wakes up to the roast's
amazing smell, which is powerful. It makes you feel something incredible is
about to happen. They invite Mr. Ray to join them. Mr. Ray is hesitant at
first, but the smell has an effect on him. He changes his mind and comes along.

As
they walk back to the apartment, people's behavior change when they smell the
roast. The same happens as they climb the stairs to the last floor. One by one
the neighbors start joining them.

Mami
happily waits for them at the doorway. The roast's smell reminds her of Puerto
Rico during Christmas. All the neighbors celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve
with them. Christmas turns into a miracle!

Comments

Sonia Manzano is famous for her role of Maria in Sesame Street. She won fifteen Emmy
Awards as writer for Sesame Street. She won a Pura Belpré Award for her novel The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano.

Manzano
shows her greatness yet again in Miracle
on 133rd Street. The beautiful story discusses the nostalgia families
living in the diaspora feel during Christmas. We identified with the story
because we are a Puerto Rican family living in the diaspora. Every Christmas we
feel homesick for Puerto Rico.

My
daughters enjoyed this story. My oldest daughter said the illustrations are so
detailed and expressive. She understood why our family is similar to the one
portrayed in the book. We have get used to celebrating Christmas differently. We
have spent the holidays with new friends instead of our extended family.

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